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This article suggests that the study of colonies and colonization needs to be situated within wider Mediterranean and Near Eastern contexts and to throw off its parochial conception of Greek history. However, a wider geographical range is not enough by itself to bring the study of ancient colonization out of its current ‘crisis’. Scholars should be rethinking the very terminology they employ, including such words as ‘colonization’, and they ought to evaluate how modern colonialism and capitalism have shaped the understanding of the ancient phenomena conventionally described as ‘colonization’....

This article suggests that the study of colonies and colonization needs to be situated within wider Mediterranean and Near Eastern contexts and to throw off its parochial conception of Greek history. However, a wider geographical range is not enough by itself to bring the study of ancient colonization out of its current ‘crisis’. Scholars should be rethinking the very terminology they employ, including such words as ‘colonization’, and they ought to evaluate how modern colonialism and capitalism have shaped the understanding of the ancient phenomena conventionally described as ‘colonization’. Such a revaluation would lead not just to a more rigorous analysis of ancient colonization but also to a broader, and more nuanced, consideration of modern empires.